Wednesday, October 11, 2006

WBW #26 - Guess What We Drank!

(Another installment from guest blogger hubby...)

Just over two years ago, intrepid New Yorker, Lenn at Lenndevours started a monthly wine tasting community activity called Wine Blogging Wednesday. This is the 26th installment and our 2nd time participating. Rather than the typical monthly theme like BIG REDS or Unoaked Chards, this month's theme is a clever creation of Beau at Basic Juice. The idea is that all participants contribute tasting notes without wine names. The place of origin (whites can be from New York, Oregon, or Italy & reds from Washington, Spain or France) will subsequently be guessed by anyone willing to put themself up there.

We're currently without gas in our apartment as the building undergoes what may be more than a month of leak repairs. As a result we've been taking in, eating out, and using our microwave more than ever before. But even before the gas was shut off, it seems our typically exciting home-cooking routine was preempted by busy schedules and Jewish Holidays. A few weeks ago, armed with leftovers from our family Rosh Hashana dinner (reminiscent of a Thanksgiving feast - Turkey, stuffing, and broccoli?-my parents sure do love their broccoli!) nights earlier, we tried this wine. I chose it as my WBW #26 entry for the sheer enjoyment of confusing people (which I hope to accomplish). Since my typical GO TO white wine regions were not an option (Loire, Mosel, etc.) this may throw some who know me well.

This unique blend of six grape varieties (5 white and one red) culminating in an intellectually created albeit delicious white wine. The color is kinda light golden and the aromatics are a blend of things like apples, pears, baking spices, oranges, honeydew melon, flowers and a bit of smoke and vanilla. The wine is much fuller bodied than I was expecting given it origin. It's loaded with ripe fruit flavors, has an incredibly rich texture, and a rather juicy acidity. There's a bit of oak in here, but so much complexity in both flavor (exotic) and texture (pretty darn rich), that it's not a dominant factor.

The wine didn't really do much for the broccoli, but that wasn't the point, was it?